Paralysis
by Phantom88
Summary: It's been about a month since the war with Gaea ended and Nico still hasn't gotten used to camp. Just as everything is settling down, Nico learns about a mysterious underworld creature killing off residents of a village. With Will tagging along he will have to find out why the creature is interesting in mortal beings. Solangelo. I'm rating it T for later violence, First PJO story.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! This is my first HOO fanfic so it'll have some mistakes in it. I hope you enjoy it! I'll be writing from Nico's point of view. I don't own the PJO or Hoo series.

Getting attacked by a hellhound was _not_ Nico's favorite way to start a day. Well, it's not like he was attacked, more enthusiastically tackled. He walked into camp after a particularly long research trip when Mrs. O'Leary had leaped from the nearby shadows squishing Nico underneath her huge weight. Her tail waved wildly and she covered Nico's face with slobbery kisses.

"Mrs. O'Leary!" Nico snapped pushing her off of him a scowl played on his face. The large hellhound sat back on her haunches still panting, a dog-like smile across her muzzle. Nico sighed and scratched behind her ear, he couldn't stay mad at her for long. He smiled and continued walking along the trail that would get him back to camp, the large hound walking along beside him. Ever since the war with Gaea he had been living at camp in the Hades cabin and he still wasn't quite used to it.

The camp came into view as Nico quickened his pace. His stomach growled as the scent of food wafted from the dining pavilion. Before he ran over to get his meal he turned back to Mrs. O'Leary, ignoring the growling of his stomach "I'll come and play with you later." He promised scratching her ears again "Promise." She barked loudly and licked his face once again, turning and disappearing back into the forest. Sighing he rubbed the dog spit off his face and walked into the dining pavilion.

The pavilion was filled with demigods eating and chatting. Nico quietly snatched some food from the table, throwing some into the fire. He glanced around, panicked, he didn't want to be seen by-

"Nico!" a voice stopped him mid-step, he turned stiffly to see Will Solace making his way through the crowd to where Nico was trying to make his escape. Nico swore under his breath and scowled at the teen walking up to him "What do you want Solace?" he snapped irritably "I have work to do."

"Not until you eat." Will said, grabbing Nico by the arm "Doctors orders." He pulled Nico to the Hades table and shoved him onto the bench and sitting down across from him.

"I was going to eat in my cabin." Nico growled stabbing into the meat with his fork "And you're not even supposed to be sitting here."

Will rolled his eyes "Where have you been?" he asked, completely ignoring the looks they were getting.

"You should be glad Chiron isn't here." Nico continued, ignoring Wills question as he did Nico's.

The sat there for a minute, both glaring at each other neither willing to look away. Finally after another minute of silence Will wavered and looked away running his fingers through his golden hair and turning back to face the son of Hades "Answer my question, where have you been?"

Still scowling Nico stabbed another slice of meat "I've been doing research in a bunch of different places." He finally said, stuffing the meat into his mouth.

Will tilted his head curiously "What have you been researching?" his eyes hardened for a second "You haven't been shadow traveling have you?"

"No," Nico said sarcastically "Doctors orders." mimicking Wills voice, he turned back to face him"I actually haven't had to so you don't need to worry." Before Will could say anything else Nico stood and turned to walk out of the pavilion "If you'll excuse me I have to go and fulfill a promise."

Will jumped up and followed him "Wait, what have you been looking at?" he huffed when Nico ignored him "Nico!"

_'Just ignore him and he'll go away.'_ Nico kept telling himself _'Just focus on finding Mrs. O'Leary'_ He didn't have to search far. As soon as he stepped into the forest a large black mastiff jumped out at him, and instead of getting flattened like earlier Nico side stepped just in time for Will to run to his side, and get flattened by the hellhound.

"Gods!" Will swore, struggling to move "Nico, help!"

Smirking Nico clapped his hands and Mrs. O'Leary walked up to him.

"You knew that was going to happen!" Will growled, aggravated "That's cold Di Angelo, you didn't even give me a warning!"

Nico gave him a look of false hurt "She must just dislike you." He stroked the hellhound fur, a smile flashing across his lips "I don't control what she does."

Will scowled at him and brushed off the dirt and fur covering his clothes "You made a promise with a dog?"

"Of course." Nico pulled out the metal shield from some bushes and threw it across the open area "She likes to play Frisbee." Will shook his head and watched Nico and Mrs. O'Leary play dropping the argument, he didn't want to argue with Nico with a little too friendly hellhound running around.

Just as their game of Frisbee was winding down the sound of hooves against the dirt caught Nico's attention, he turned and spotted Chiron. As it turned out turning away from the ecstatic hellhound was a bad idea. She bounded up to him and gave him a friendly nudge from behind with her powerful nose, sending him flying through the air "Oh my go-" his voice was cut off as he clashed with Will, both of them tumbling into the dirt.

Will stumbled as Nico rammed into him, both of them skidding a few feet across the forest ground. As the cloud of dust cleared around them they both sat up, banging heads. They both reeled back, swearing loudly.

Nico opened one eye, his hand massaging his bruised forehead. He looked at Will and laughed out loud. Will looked at him surprised, never once had he heard the son of Hades laugh. "You look like you fell through a pine tree." Nico said, pointing to Wills hair.

Will scowled and started taking out the pine needles in his hair, trying to cover the blush that was creeping along his face "At least I don't look like I fell off a Pegasus."

Nico looked down at himself and stopped laughing. His clothes where crumpled together and coated with dirt "Sh- Shut up Solace!"

After they had sorted themselves out Nico palmed his forehead, making the bruise spark with pain again "I forgot!" he sighed "I need to tell Chiron about the-" he stopped mid-sentence when Will looked over at him.

Will looked at him skeptically, waiting for him to continue.

Nico just shut his mouth and walked the way Chiron had gone, ignoring Will as he fell into step beside him.

When they had finally found Chiron Nico had explained what he had been researching.

"A small village has been attacked for the past several days, their livestock and children have gone missing, even some adults have been found dead." He placed his hand on his sword handle and continued "Normally I would just dismiss this as a wolf but there is something that worries me, as soon as I entered the village is could feel and immense underwordly power coming from the woods." he looked at Mrs. O'Leary "I think it's a hellhound."

Chiron nodded "I think you should check this out." He looked at Nico "Normally a hellhound wouldn't attack a mortal village, I want you to find out why."

Will, who had just been listening until know piped up "He can't go alone!" he looked back and forth between them "What if something happens."

Nico rolled his eyes "I'll be fine, I'm good with this kind of thing." He looked to Chiron, silently begging him to let him go alone.

"I think Will is right." Chiron started, much to Nico's dismay "You can go with Nico." He turned to Will "Your knowledge about medicine may come in handy.

And just like that, Nico had a new traveling companion.

How was it? I felt like Chiron was a bit out of characters but I couldn't fix it. Please comment! I'd like to know what you liked and disliked, or if you want me to continue this. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the late update! Thanks to all of you who commented :D I hope you like this chapter, ima introduce someone new ;)

As much as Nico didn't want to admit it, he was glad to have Will come along. They had left the camp behind and shadow-traveled to the town where the hellhound had been spotted. As soon as they had gotten there their ride had abandoned them. When the landed in a clearing near the main entrance Mrs O'Leary had frozen up, her eyes darting around, and her ears perked. She sniffed the air and was gone in a second.

Will looked at Nico a confused look crossing his face "What was that?" he asked, turning back to the shadows where the large hellhound had disappeared.

"I don't know…" Nico muttered, shrugging it off he started to walk towards the main entrance "I bet she doesn't like the scent of the other hound, lets head to the village." He walked through the thick undergrowth before Will could say anything.

As soon as they entered the small town everything went quiet. A group of children that had been playing was ushered into the housed by worried looking adults, others watched from windows and whispered. Nico continued along the main street, his eyes wandering from house to house, he was about to go knock on a door when he heard his voice being called "Nico!" looking over he saw Lucy, a girl about his age, running towards him. She smiled brightly and jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Will grunted in surprise automatically glaring at the girl.

"You came back!" she chirped, hugging the breath out of him "I knew you'd help us!"

She let go of him and yelled "Father! He came back! I told you he would!" as her words echoed around the silent village a tired looking man came from one of the large houses, he closed the door behind him and walked up to the small group.

"I'm glad to see that." He said, his voice raspy "I was hoping that you would be able to help us with our wolf problem." He turned and waved at them to enter the house "Come. We will talk inside." He quickly entered, followed soon by Lucy.

"What's going on?" Will asked, still scowling at the girls disappearing back "Why do these people know you?"

Nico laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head "Well… when I first came here the townspeople were worried about the 'wolf' so they didn't allow any visitors." He paused looking around, then lowering his voice "I kinda told them that I was studying wolves and could help them."

Will rolled his eyes "So you lied to get info."

"Technically it's not lying." Nico snapped, slapping Wills' shoulder "If you think about it I am studying what's causing their problem." Before Will could reply he followed the two others into the house.

They were led into a small family room "Sit." Lucy offered waving them to the couch. When Nico sat down she was quick to claim the spot beside him, causing Will to huff irritably and sit on one of the chairs across from the couch.

"Has anything else happened?" Nico asked, looking at Lucy's' father.

The older man rubbed his hands together nervously, his eyes flittering across the room landing on anything but Nico "The wolf has taken three more sheep, and one of our dogs." He stopped and gathered himself "And one of our children."

Nico just stared at him, thinking of a way to react "Oh… well did you figure out where it lives?"

"We know that it lives in the southern part of the forest." Lucy said, pulling a map out and laying it against the table in the middle of the room. She pointed to a spot on the map "This is the village," she made a line across the map to a grove of dark green trees "We darkened the map where the wolf lives, it's in the thickest part of the forest."

Nico nodded leaning forward to study the map. Lucy leaned against him, pointing out another spot on the map. Will glared at the movement and stood, forcing himself between them "Let me see." He said, pushing Lucy away a little too hard. Lucy glared back at him.

"Careful!" Nico snapped as he moved to make room "We don't want to damage the map." Why Will had sat there was a complete mystery but Nico didn't have time to think about his actions. Shaking the thoughts away he went back to studying the map "Would it be alright if we took this with us?" he asked, looking to Lucy's father.

Nodding he took the map from Nico and carefully rolled it up.

"You should wait until nightfall." Lucy said, shoving aside Will and walking up to Nico "It's most active then." She smiled sweetly at Nico and wrapped her arm around his "I'll show you around, last time you didn't get to see the whole village." Without waiting for his reply she drug him towards the door, pausing only to look back and smirk at Will.

Nico honestly didn't know what was going on. As soon as he had left the house Will had come up and snatched Lucy's hand, saying something about wanting to see the sheep. Nico had ended up walking behind them as they continually bickered about the most useless things.

"This sheep is an_ ash_ black, not grey!" Lucy argued, waving to one of the nearby sheep.

"No, ash black is more like that one." Will shot back, pointing to a sheep further out.

"Does this really matter?" Nico asked after his patience finally ran out "Does the color of the nearest sheep really help the case?" he expected them both to shrug and start helping but they both looked back at him and snapped "YES!" and just like that they were back to the argument.

Nico stared at them, dumbfounded. How could two people have a debate on the color of a sheep? Sighing he shook his head and continued along the path, they probably wouldn't notice his absence in time to catch up with him. He walked along the path that would lead him to the southern exit, it didn't take long to reach it "This really is a small village." Nico sighed to himself "What do they have against eachother?"

As soon as he entered the forest a dark feeling came over him. It wasn't like a gut-feeling it literally felt like a weight had been added to his shoulders. The air had turned dry and the shadows danced around him like ghosts. Shadows shouldn't have scared him, he was the son of Hades after-all, but these shadows seemed… alive.

The sound of a scream turned his attention away from the shadows. He sprinted along the faint path, the over grown branches whipping his face and arms. The scream sounded again, this time from his left. Turning sharply he broke through the bushed and into a small clearing, he automatically wished he hadn't. It was a mess. Blood splattered the clearing and a vaguely human shape writhed in a pool of the scarlet liquid.

It was a woman. Her legs were bend at unnatural angles and her arm was nowhere in sight. He neck had a nasty gash along the side, blood poured from the multiple wounds. The scent of metal was heavy as blood continued to soak into the ground around the body. Running up to her Nico swallowed his nausea, kneeling down beside her he studied the wounds. He was surprised the pain hadn't been enough to kill her but she was definitely dead now. Her eyes… or eye, was dull and widened with fear. The socket where her left eye should have been was bleeding, slick with blood.

Nico had seen much worse, but for some reason, looking down at the corpse made him want to throw up. The smell of blood was all he could smell and the still running wounds continued to make the puddle grow around him. The blood had soaked into his jeans, turning them a red color. His hands were sticky with it.

"What happened?" Nico turned and saw Will running towards him.

Standing he turned to face them "I found her like this…" he said "I think the hound must have gotten her."

"Are you okay?" Will asked, running up to him and gently placing his hand on Nico's shoulder "You have some blood on you." He said, panic flickering across his face.

"I'm fine." He looked back down at the corpse "Let's go get someone to get the body." His stomach twisted and he had to look away. Will looked at him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder "Yeah." Let's go."

How was it? I'm still struggling to write in Nico's point of view so please tell me if I should do something different. Thanks for reading! Please review! Oh, and if you don't like graphic scenes you might want to be careful with later chapters, it's going to get worse.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello! Sorry again for the late update, I don't even have a good excuse other than the fact that I'm really lazy… I'm hoping to be able to upload more consistently for later chapters. I am also almost done with my other fic so I should be able to focus on this one. I hope you like this chapter! Oh, and if you would like me to write from Will's POV just comment, if enough people want to I might start J

Nico followed behind Will, his eyes focused on the ground in front of him. He was jolted out of his daze when he collided with Will "Are you alright?" the blond asked, glancing down at him.

"I'm fine." Nico grumbled, straightening and forging on ahead of Will. Honestly, the scene had shaken him. Normally he would have been perfectly fine seeing something like that but living at camp for a few weeks must have gotten him used to the peace and tranquility.

Will walked up beside him and asked again "Are you sure?" his gaze when to his blood stained pants and hands "You're still covered in blood."

Sighing Nico waved away the question "We need to get back to the village and report what happened," he looked up at Will and added "I'll change after that." Will smiled and nodded, obviously pleased with the deal.

When they entered the village a small group had gathered beside the chiefs' house. Nico spotted Lucy in the group along with her father. Her voice cut through the quiet chatter "Nico!" she exclaimed pushing aside the other villagers. She trotted up to him and noticed his blood covered attire "Are you alright!?" she held him back at arm length and looked him up and down.

"He's fine." Will said, breaking her hold on Nico by pulling him back a step "But we did find someone." He looked over at the chief and walked over, pulling Nico along with him.

After explaining what they had found the small group once again exploded with whispers and questions. One of the men from the group walked forward and glared at the pair and growled "I thought you were supposed to get rid of the wolf!"

Will was about to reply when Nico took a step forward and silenced him with a glance. He turned to the villagers and cleared his throat "I'm sorry for your loss." He started, glancing from face to face "but we have learned valuable information." Turning to the Lucy's father he said "I think you should refrain from letting anyone leave the village."

Complaints rose from the group "What about water!" one voice yelled "And hunting!" another added.

"You'll have to do with what you have until I can find and dispose of the wolf," Nico snapped, he rubbed his temples and looked back to the chief "I'm going to go and prepare some things." He nodded to Lucy and turned, heading back to the house they were staying at.

"Hey, Nico!" Will said jumping to follow him.

Once Nico had entered his room he sat down on his bed and scratched absently at the drying blood on his hands. I'm going to need to find out where it lives, he thought, closing his eyes and humming softly.

"Nico!" Will said slightly louder, snapping his fingers in front of the teens face.

"What?" Nico growled, glaring up at him "I'm thinking." He noticed the jeans hanging from Will's arm.

"How about changing out of those," he gestured at the blood soaked jeans "and cleaning off your hands." He grabbed Nico's arm, pulling him from his seat.

Grumbling, Nico complied.

After changing and washing off the blood he felt much better, but he didn't tell Will that, he didn't need Will getting any ideas.

He walked back into the main room and sat back down on the chair "We are going to go and search tonight." He said, bending over the map on the table "We'll start here." He placed his finger on the north side of the deeper woods "I'd like to find where it lives and dispose of it before it causes any more trouble."

"Let's just not get ourselves hurt in the progress." Will added coming up and standing beside Nico "I don't want to have to use our supplies this early in the quest."

Nico rolled his eyes and decided to ignore that fact that all Will thought about was safety "Whatever, let's just get prepared."

They walked out of the house as the sun started to dip below the horizon, the last of the bright rays disappearing. They were traveling light. Nico had his sword and the map along with a small canteen of Nectar. Will was equipped similarly, he had a bow slung across his back and a small bag of medicine hanging from his belt.

The trip was an easy one until they got to the denser part of the forest. "Can you make any more noise?" Nico snapped, turning to watch Will trip over another branch.

"I'm not a creature of the night like some people!" Will hissed quietly, regaining his balance. And glaring in Nico's general direction "I can't even see you in this darkness, remind me why we didn't bring a flashlight or something along those lines?"

"The light would give use away." Nico muttered turning his attention back to trudging through the forest.

"But don't we want the hound to come after us."

Nico shook his head "Normally if we wanted to get rid of something that would work, but in the darkness we have a disadvantage, it could jump out at us from any direction." He pushed up a branch with his arm "I would like to find its den, then we might be able to catch it with a sneak attack."

"That's a good idea…" Will muttered begrudgingly.

Nico nodded, then realized he couldn't see him "Thanks." He said aloud, ducking under another branch.

He heard a satisfying THUNK as Will collided with branch "Hey!" he hissed "You could have warned me about that!"

"No, it's much more fun to watch, or hear, you run into it."

Will sounded like he was about to say something back when a large snap shattered the quiet. They could hear the squawking of birds and flapping of wings.

"This way!" Nico ordered, breaking into a dash. He waved through branches and leaped over logs and roots, following the sound of the crows. Before he broke through another wall of vegetation Will tackled him. They both skidded to a halt. Nico turned his head to snap at the other boy but his words were cut off by his hand. Will held up a finger to his lips and looked around them.

The sound of the crows sounded close now. But the cries of the bird were mixed in with another sound, heavy breathing and the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones. Will rolled off Nico and pointed through a hole in the bushes "Look." He whispered softly.

Nico pushed up beside Will and spotted the large shape moving across the ground in front of them. Its back was turned so all they could see was the long blood matted fur of its back. Bones were scattered around its paws and a few piles placed carelessly in the area. It smelled like something that had died, been forgotten about, and then opened up again after a few weeks.

"We found it" Nico whispered, shifting to get a better look. Will also moved at the same time. They both bumped shoulders rustling the bush in front of them. The large hound snorted and growled slowly turning to face them.

Nico could hear Will gasp, and he could understand why. This hound was different, you could feel the waves of blood lust and anger rippling off its pelt. Nico automatically knew what they had to do, run.

Mwahahaha, cliff hanger! Thanks for reading! I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner so please review to remind me! Sorry for any mistakes in my spelling or grammar, i'm still not error free with my writing ^^;


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay. With finals coming up I decided to type up the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!

The large hound fixed its gaze on the pair, its red eyes glowing in the dim light. The dark fur was coated in scarlet blood, mated clumps where the liquid had dried. But that wasn't what caught his attention. Unlike Ms O'Leary, who just looked like a large hound, this one was different. It looked like it had a bone mask, the kind you would see from pictures today drawn by the mortals who didn't actually know what the creatures looked like.

Despite all of this, normally Nico wouldn't have wanted to run. Normally, he would face the creature and kill it easily. But something kept him from moving. The dark red eyes seemed to root him in place, stopping any movement and chilling his blood. The large hound took one step forward, its footsteps unusually light considering its large build, its eyes never breaking contact with his. One step after another the creature grew closer. Soon the scent of blood was overwhelming and Nico could almost feel the hot breath against his face.

Nico wanted to move. He wanted to run and get away. But its intense gaze kept him still, paralyzing him. The large hound crouched against the ground and Nico knew that if he couldn't move the sharp teeth would tear into his flesh, probably killing him on the spot, but he still couldn't move or even speak. He wanted to shout out a warning to Will, tell him to run before the hound caught them both in its spell. The hound jumped at him.

"Nico!" Will shouted, slamming him to the side and sending them both skittering through the leaves and remains of older prey.

Finally broken from its spell Nico got to his feet and ran towards the path they had come from. He could hear Will close behind. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the dark shape of the hound a few steps behind. Frantically Nico swerved to the left and broke through a thick net of branches, crossing his arms over his face so he could still see. The thick undergrowth would make it difficult for the large creature to follow.

As soon as the branches thinned out Nico skidded to a halt and turned, drawing his sword in one smooth movement. Will broke through a split second later, drawing his bow. Silence. Nothing came thundering out of the woods.

Slowly Will lowered his bow, "Do you think it's still following us?" he asked, his gaze still glued to the thicket in front of them.

"I don't know." Nico whispered back "Let's head back to the village for now, we can plan our attack better now that we know its ability."

"Ability?"

"Yeah, didn't you see how it kept us still with its gaze?"

"All I saw was you staring down the big dog," he smirked slightly "I thought you had gone insane, when it jumped at you I had no choice to tackle you."

"Oh…" Nico scowled. Why was I the only one who was affected? "Well, whatever, I'll give you the details later." He lowered his sword but kept it in his hand "Let's head back."

As it turned out, finding the things den was a lot easier than finding the village. After stumbling around in the darkness they finally decided to take a break. Will had spotted a cave and their energy was low. After checking to make sure it was safe Nico started a small fire and sat down, leaning back against the wall.

Will came and sat down on the other side of the fire. Nico was about to say something when he noticed the smudge of red on his companions hip "Hey!" he snapped, jumping to his feet "When did you get injured?"

Will looked down at the injury as if noticing it for the first time "It must have been when we escaped." he reached for his bag then froze. "Ah," he sighed, wriggling his fingers though a tear in the bag "I must have torn it when we were getting away…"

"That's not good." Nico said studying the wound "You have to stop the bleeding and we don't have any nectar." His fingers brushed against the wound as he inspected it.

Jumping at the sudden contact Will scooted back "I know that." He said quickly "I am a doctor after all." Using the wall as a crutch he got up and took another step back "I'll take care of it now, I can use my jacket for some bandages." He stumbled slightly.

"Do you need some help there?" Nico asked standing "You got the injury helping me."

Will shook his head vigorously "No no, I'll be fine."

"Fine, if you're sure…" Nico sunk back to the ground, looking at Will quizzically.

Breathing a quiz sigh of relief Will took off his jacket and cut it into to bandages using the small knife he had brought with him. He tied the bandages with a experienced hand and came to sit back down near the fire. Not daring to look at Nico, especially after that act.

Another long span of silence followed. Will finally looked up and noticed Nico staring at him. Surprised, Nico looked away. _That was awkward_, he though running a hand through his wild hair.

"We should get going." Nico said, slightly louder than necessary "Can you make it?"

Will nodded "Of course." He got to his feet, wincing slightly as he put pressure on his injured leg. He noticed Nicos worried glance "I'm fine," he sighed, rolling his eyes "Since when did you start worrying about me?"

Nico flushed and turned away "I was just worried that I would have to carry you back."

Will watched Nico walk away and smiled, even though he had joked about it, he was actually pleased that Nico was worried about him.

The sun peaked over the horizon. Its warm rays shone through the branched and leaves, dappling the ground with light. The pair had walked through the night and still couldn't find one of the main paths they had taken before, or one that was listed on the map.

"I told you we should have taken a left back there." Will complained, pointing at the map "If we are right here then we could have reached a path."

"What makes you think we are right here?" Nico growled, snatching the map back, rolling it up.

"Because it's lighter, and the sun was rising over there." He pointed to the bright orb "That means we are in the lighter colored area on the east side."

"I suppose that would be right," Nico muttered "But unfortunately for you there is a lot of forest in that general area."

Will scowled and huffed, turning away from the son of Hades "At least I had an idea."

It took them a few hours but they finally reached a path. It was small but they could now find where they were on the map.

Nico looked at Will, ready to make a smart remark but closed his mouth. Wills face was stern and his hand was pressed against the wound on his leg. Before Will noticed Nico staring her turned around and walked over to a fallen tree stump "Let's take a break."

Will almost sighed with relief as he sat down. The bandages he had used before were dirty and stained with brown and red. After cutting off the old ones he pulled the other bandages out of his pouch and set them down on a spot beside him.

"They are going to get dirty." Nico said helpfully

Will scowled at him "They are going to end up dirty anyways."

Rolling his eyes Nico stood and sat down beside him, picking up the long lengths of fabric "How long do you want them?"

Will shrugged "One sec, I'll measure-"he stuttered to a halt when Nico weaved the fabric around his hip, measuring how long it should be.

"H- hey, what are you doing…" Will muttered, willing his face not to turn red.

"I at least know how to do basic medical stuff, I did live by myself for a while." Nico replied, snatching Wills knife, cutting the fabric.

"Here." He held out the bandages.

Will took them without a word and quickly dressed his wound, his face felt like it was on fire. He only hoped Nico wouldn't notice.

As soon as they finished the break they were off again. But the calm atmosphere would not last long, they weren't prepared for what would happen when they got back.

How was it? Please review! I made it a bit longer to make up for delay.


	5. Chapter 5

HAHA, here I am with another chapter! I bet you weren't expecting me to get another one up so soon. Since school is almost over I'm hoping to post more regularly. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

As soon as they finished the break they were off again. But the calm atmosphere would not last long, they weren't prepared for what would happen when they got back.

The sun had just reached the middle of the sky when the village came into view. From there point of view it looked like it always had, calm. But as they entered through the main gates, they automatically knew something was wrong. Many of the houses had broken doors and windows, the animals that had wandered around were either dead on the ground or know where in the village.

"Nico!"

Nico automatically recognized the voice and side stepped. Lucy stumbled to a halt when she missed Nico with a hug. Normally she would have pouted and complained but she just frowned "What happened to you two?"

"Nothing, more importantly, what happened here?" Nico swung his hand around, gesturing to the multiple broken houses and animal parts.

"You won't believe it!" she said, pulling his arm and leading him towards her house "Last night a pack of wolves attacked, most of us are out looking for any surviving animals."

Nico looked at Will, his eyes flickering with surprise "Do you think the hellhound had something to do with it?"

"I've never heard of a monster controlling the normal animals before…." Will whispered, scowling at the thought "We will have to contact Chiron and ask."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lucy asked sharply, tugging Nico away from Will "Don't leave me out."

Nico shot another look at Will before answering "We were just talking about the wolf you had asked us to hunt down."

Lucy still looked suspicious but she turned back to dragging Nico to the village chiefs' house. She opened the door and called "Nico and his companion are back!" letting go of his arm she said "Wait here, I'll go get my dad."

As soon as she was out of the room Nico turned to Will "Go contact Chiron."

Will nodded "Be careful." He glared at the door where Lucy had disappeared.

Sighing Nico shoved him to the door "I don't know why you're worried."

* * *

Will scowled at Nico before leaving the house. He dug a drachma out of his pack and walked to the nearest river. He had to search before finding a mist that would work. He threw the coin into the mist and said "Chiron, Camp Half Blood."

It wasn't long before Chiron appeared in the mist. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I have a question I want to ask you." Will said, taking a seat on a large rock nearby "We discovered the hellhounds' den."

"That's good, what's the problem?"

"We didn't manage to kill it but when we came back the village had been torn apart by wolves, can a hellhound control the native animals?"

"I think it's possible…" Chiron said thoughtfully "But it's not very common."

"Why would it have happened here?" Will asked

"The hellhound may have become the alpha of the pack, we didn't notice the problem until it had become a hazard so it had plenty of time."

"Thanks for the information." Will stood.

"No problem, just stay safe." Chiron's image disappeared and the mist returned to normal.

Will sighed and started the trek back to the village. If the hound could control the villagers it would be much harder to destroy it, even getting close to it would be harder. When he entered the village he noticed a lot more people in it than before, they all had some sort of animal in their arms or led behind them with a rope. They all glared at him as he walked by, as if he had been the one that let the animals out. Quickening his pace Will jumped up the stairs and entered the house, quickly closing the door behind him.

In the main room Nico, Lucy, and her father all sat at a table. A map was spread out between them.

Nico pointed to the village "If you guys can bar off the entrances with something the wolves won't be able to reach you." He slid his finger in a circle around the village "Then we can take care of the alpha without worrying about them attacking the village."

"That would work." The chief said, nodding "We can hold them back for a night, but after that it will be harder."

Looking up from the map Nico noticed Will. Waving him over he gestured to an open chair beside him "Come help us." He said, turning his attention back to the map.

Will sat down beside the son of Hades and watched them plan. They already obviously had a plan, Will would just have to wait for his orders to come up. While he waited Will fixed up his torn bag, although it wasn't perfect it would last for the remaining time the pair would spend here. The problem was his supplies. In the fight he had lost all of the nectar and bandages, all he had left was the spare supply he had left here.

'Will, hey Will!" Jumping, Will looked up from his work.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

Nico scowled at him and said again "I said that we will head out tomorrow night, it should give us enough time to get ready."

"Good plan."

Nico sighed and rolled his eyes. He turned back to the table and rolled up the map, "You should start getting ready." He said to the chief.

"Oh, yes." Nodding the chief walked out.

* * *

After the chief walked out Nico put the map in his pack and picked up his sword. Turning to Will he said "How are you feeling?

"I'll be alright after I get some nectar." He got to his feet and walked to his room saying "I'll bring out my remaining supplies."

Nico nodded and sat down to wait, all he had brought with him was a sword and a small pack. Lucy, who had been silent up until now got to her feet and walked over to Nico "What's nectar?" she asked, turning her head curiously.

Swearing to himself Nico said "It's… a kind of medicine."

Lucy pouted and took a step closer to him "What kind of medicine?"

Desperately, Nico looked to the hallway, silently hoping Will would come back soon "Just for wounds, you know, since Will got hurt."

Lucy narrowed her eyes and took another step closer, their faces almost touching "And how did he get hurt?"

"He fell."

"Liar," Lucy snapped "Tell me the truth." She wrapped her arms around his neck, cutting off any kind of escape and forcing their faces closer.

Stunned, Nico wasn't sure what to say. He didn't like how close the girl was, it was messing up his train of thought. In this situation, he wouldn't be able to come up with a good lie so he stayed silent and tried to pull back, unsuccessfully. Just when Nico thought Lucy was going to either kiss him or head butt him Will walked in.

"Hey Nico about the-" he stopped mid-sentence, staring at the scene in front of him. "What are you doing?" he said after a minute of stunned silence.

Nico opened his mouth to reply but Lucy beat him to it "Is there something wrong?" she glared at Will "I was just asking him a few questions."

"Just what were you asking him?" Will growled, walking up to them and yanking Nico from her grasp.

"That's none of your business." She reached out to grab Nico but Will pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around the shorter boy his eyes still locked in a glare.

"Were leaving." He said pulling Nico to the door "We have to discuss our battle plan." Without waiting for a reply from either of them he opened the door and drug Nico out, practically slamming the door behind them.

"What's your problem?" Nico snapped as Will led him away from the house "I mean, I'm thankful for you saving me but you didn't have to drag me out."

Will didn't reply until they had left the village "What happened?" he stopped in a clearing a good way away from the village and turned to face Nico, not releasing his grip on the son of Hades arm.

Shaking away from his grip Nico pulled back his hand "Nothing happened." He took a step back and felt his back brush up against a tree.

"What were you doing then? Will asked, moving close enough he could cut off any escape plans.

_Why is this happening again?_ Nico asked himself "I didn't do anything, she was forcing herself on me."

Will practically pinned him against the tree "Did she do anything to you?"

"No," Nico replied quickly "Nothing."

Sighing, Will let his head fall on Nico's shoulder "Good, I was worried."

Nico, surprised, didn't say anything. _This is the second time I've been surprised to silence in a few minutes_, he thought to himself.

They stayed like that for another minute before Will pulled away and smiled brightly "I'm sorry I doubted you." He turned "Let's head back."

Nico simply nodded and followed him, his face flared red when he finally processed what had happened and his shoulder practically burned where Will had laid his head.

What he didn't see was Will completely flustered at his own actions. They walked back to the village in silence and split when they entered, both leaving to do something else. Will walked over to a group of kids and helped with the animals while Nico left to help with the barricade.

* * *

Done! How was it? Another Will and Nico moment! I'll try and get the next chapter up soon. Please comment!


	6. Authors Note

Hey guys! For any of you who still follow this story I thought i'd tell you that i'm going to rewrite it and post it again. Probably on a different account. This will also go for my other story. I'd like to think my writing has gotten better, and there are new things I would like to add. Thanks for you patience! To find my new profile just look up puppeteer951 and I will try to get the story up as soon as possible.


	7. Update

Alright! The first rewritten chapter is up for this story. Please check it out!


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